


Can't Be Touched

by Asukachan07



Series: WestAllen AUs [6]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: 3x15, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, episode rewrite
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-22
Updated: 2019-10-22
Packaged: 2020-12-28 00:40:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21127937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asukachan07/pseuds/Asukachan07
Summary: Barry reacts differently when Wally implies that he proposed to Iris just in the hope to change the future.





	Can't Be Touched

**Author's Note:**

> Rewrite of 3x15. Please watch that scene again before reading.  
For the sake of this fic, I'm choosing to interpret the face Barry made when Wally says: "tell my sister why you asked her to marry you!"  
as a "no, this kid did NOT just question my love for Iris" expression. Do you see that? Yes, no? Just pretend that's what it is.  
Barry is a bit dark/kind of a jerk in this one because that's how I like to write him lately🙃
> 
> Title from "Infinity" by Jaymes Young. 
> 
> This is very spontaneous so it might be full of grammatical errors, apologies!

"Tell _my sister_ why you asked her to marry you," Wally said, and while he saw and _ felt _Iris look at him in surprise, Barry tried his best to school his features as not to show Wally how much he wanted to yell at him some more.

"Go on," the younger speedster prompted with a hand wave before walking backwards as if to give him the stage, "tell her the _ real _ reason, Barry!"

It was true, _ at first _ Barry had thought of proposing to Iris because he'd thought that her wearing a ring that she didn't have in his vision could change the future.

But as he'd lit up candles and plucked white rose petals across the loft, the smell of Joe's grandmother's noodle dish permeating the air, Barry had realized that there could be no greater way to rebel against his vision than to claim a better future for him and Iris.

Barry had been in love with her since he was, what, nine? Ten? Before he even knew what the meaning of the word was, as Joe had put it. So proposing to Iris and having her say _ yes _ had been a dream come true for him, a dream he'd thought would never become reality when he'd returned from the past without saving his mother almost two years ago.

Despite the fear of losing Iris to Savitar, Barry couldn't help the giddy happiness that warmed his heart every time he saw that historical ring on Iris' finger. He had everything he'd ever wanted, finally.

So Wally's accusation didn't hurt Barry, per se. It _ irritated _ him, more so than Joe calling him out for not asking his permission to propose to Iris.

What right did either of them have to get a say about his relationship with Iris, huh?

Joe had known about Barry's feelings for his daughter since forever, but had he ever given Barry a word of encouragement to pursue her?

_No_.

Joe had let Barry drown in self-doubt year after year, had watched Barry watch Iris date other guys, had made Barry keep the secret of being the Flash from her, a secret that had created a wider rift between them than his confession to having feelings for her did.

Barry had kept that secret to please Joe, even though Joe himself hadn't believed him about the man in yellow. All those years, it was Iris' faith in Barry that had kept him sane when the scientific knowledge he accumulated kept telling him that there was no way that what he'd seen as a child was possible.

Iris had believed in the impossible for Barry's sake, she was the reason why he'd become the impossible himself, she was the one who had made him the luckiest man alive by accepting to marry him, so Joe could keep his permission to himself.

And _ Wally_? Iris' long-lost brother who had immediately nicknamed Barry Iris' white shadow—Barry had hated that nickname so much back in the days that he'd dated Becky Cooper just to be called 'Becky's boyfriend' for a change—and had judged him a coward without knowing the first thing about him?

Barry had befriended the youngest West sibling despite the kid's clear dislike for him for Joe's sake; he'd introduced him to Cisco and welcomed him into the Team Flash family without blinking because he knew that Iris would appreciate the gesture; he had gladly helped train Wally when he'd become a speedster. 

It had been no problem at that point. Wally was family, and Barry was happy that they finally got along, though he recalled that Wally's attitude towards him had only changed after he found out that he was The Flash.

Would Wally have even approved of Barry as Iris' boyfriend if Barry didn't have super speed?

Barry didn't care for the answer to this question. He didn't care about anyone's approval to be Iris' man. Iris loved him back and that was all that would ever matter to him.

So Barry straightened up in his seat and reached out his right hand towards Iris while still staring up at Wally. Relief flooded his system when Iris' left hand reached back.

Barry took a centering breath as he rubbed his thumb across the diamond of the engagement ring.

"I proposed to her because I love her," he replied to Wally with conviction before finally turning to look back at Iris "because I love you, Iris," he repeated softly.

He banished all traces of fear and doubt from his mind as Iris' eyes searched his, so that she only found the truth of his love in them.

Her smile and small nod were sincere but not as confident as he wanted them to be, but that was probably because Wally still looked skeptical.

"Do you have any doubt about that, Wally?" He asked the younger speedster. "Do you think that I don't love Iris?"

The question threw the younger man off only for a second, but that was more than enough for everyone to see his loss of confidence.

"That's not the reason why you proposed," Wally insisted weakly. "You proposed so that Iris would wear a ring, because in your vision when Savitar attacks her, she's _ not _ wearing any."

Barry felt Iris starting to remove her hand from his and slightly tightened his grip on it to prevent it.

He looked at her with a pleading gaze, and couldn't be thankful enough that they'd been best friends for most of their lives when she pursed her lips but gave him a slanted nod in return, her eyes minutely narrowed. 

They didn't need words to communicate.

_ Please give me a chance to explain. _

_ Okay, Bartholomew, but you only have this _ one _ chance. _

"It's true, Iris doesn't have the ring in my vision," Barry confirmed as he looked back at Wally.

The rest of the team had gathered in the Cortex. He had a captivated audience. 

Pleading his case to the team would be playing into Wally's game, though. Iris' brother was a good kid, but he liked being in the spotlight, craved recognition and attention.

Barry had only ever cared about Iris, so he looked back at his fiancée.

His _ fiancée_. His future wife. The love of his life.

This love that had shaped his life, had made him the man he was today, had inspired him to be The Flash? Barry wouldn't let anyone touch it. He wouldn't let anyone make Iris question it, not even her brother.

"You weren't wearing the ring in the vision," he reiterated to Iris, "but you were wearing that Mackage Vane coat you bought on Black Friday, you know the one in wool but with leather sleeves?"

Of course Iris remembered, she had dragged him out of bed at four A.M. to buy that jacket on sale even though he had offered to buy it for her at any other time.

Barry smiled when she nodded her confirmation before turning back to Wally.

"If I thought that changing a detail of my vision was enough to affect the future, I could've just burned that coat so that she wouldn't wear it, simple as that," he argued calmly, suppressing a smile when Iris squeezed his hand and Cisco made a noise of agreement.

Wally had clearly not seen that argument coming, and he stared at him with wide eyes, frozen in the middle of the Cortex.

Who was full of it now?

"But you're implying that I proposed _ just _ to change the details of my vision," Barry said in a low voice before letting go of Iris hand to stand up from his chair. "Let's follow your train of thoughts, here."

"Bear," Iris chided him quietly, but he ignored her.

"You think that, what? Once Iris was safe from Savitar, I'd break up with her? That my promise to marry her was made _ lightly_?"

"I didn't say—that's not what…" Wally tried to defend.

"I've been in love with _ your sister _ for a long time," Barry reminded the younger speedster, "before you were able to spell the word love yourself."

That was a tad dramatic, but Cisco seemed to appreciate the turn of phrase.

"I'm open to your criticism about how to handle this crisis," the team leader reassured as he stepped away from the monitors to exchange brief looks with everyone around the room. 

"Any solution to defeat Savitar or to keep Iris out of harm's way is welcome _ and _ appreciated," he stressed before stepping towards a frozen Wally, "but I won't let you question my commitment to _ your sister _, Wally. You don't know what—"

"Barry, it's okay," Iris jumped in verbally as she grabbed his arm and physically put herself between him and her brother. 

"Wally just misunderstood your intentions, right?" She asked as she looked at Wally over her shoulder, but the younger speedster was still speechless.

"He knows that you'd do anything to keep me safe," his fiancée added, "and he was just concerned that you haven't shared all the details about that vision. We should go over those details, see if maybe another detail can give us a clue about how to defeat Savitar, right Cisco?"

Barry let Iris walk him backwards towards the breacher, who proposed to vibe the vision again.

Caitlin and Julian chimed in with no valuable contribution really, they just wanted to lighten up the mood.

Barry acknowledged their effort and followed Cisco to his workshop, sparing a glance at Iris and Wally who stayed behind.

The other speedster sensed his gaze, and looked back at him, a hint of fear in his eyes.

Barry wished that he could instil that fear in Savitar too, so that the mysterious speedster would know better than to try to take Iris away from him.

**Author's Note:**

> YouTube recommended that scene to me this morning and lowered my Monday productivity by 50% so please leave a comment if you like this. Either way thank you for reading!


End file.
